A possible meeting is coming up between the two leaders, and the question is would the interpreter have to interpret that? The question was posed by this article.
The answer in short is YES!
The purpose of an interpreter is to facilitate communication as accurately as possible. This means regardless of how degrading, rude, bigoted, insulting, or embarrassing the source message may be, it is the interpreter’s job to relay it in all it’s glory to the recipient in the target language. The recipient has a right to know exactly what is being said, and then can choose to deal with it however they choose. This empowers the client, truly eliminates communication barriers, and puts the ball in their court, rather than giving that power to the interpreter.
The golden rule applies here as well. If someone said something to you, regardless of how unpleasant it was, wouldn’t you want to know what it was? You could then choose how to take control of the situation and it would also provide you with a better insight into who the person really was.
Of course, this is easier said than done. I have been an interpreter in the Los Angeles and Orange county areas for years and have occasionally found myself in this situation. If one of the clients wanted to say “You’re an oppressive bitch, worse than Hitler” just because the other client wasn’t able to give them the discount they thought they deserved, then unfortunately (for everyone involved) it was my job to interpret that message.
Remaining as neutral as possible during these tense moments is one of the most difficult parts of the job, especially when you are expected to convey the tone and volume as well. They say it’s the city of angels, but the folks don’t always speak so heavenly around here.
This seemed to happen more often while I was working as a Video Relay Interpreter (VRS) or Video Remote Interpreter (VRI) than when I worked on-site in the Southern California area. This is obvious since it’s easier to be a jerk when you’re not actually standing in front of the person.
The one possible exception to this rule is when one client may be unintentionally offensive, given their local culture. It may be acceptable to “soften” the message as it was not intended to be insulting. This is a difficult line to walk, and each interpreter must make their own judgment as to when this is applicable.
Certified interpreters are trained to faithfully transmit messages, even when they are quite uncomfortable. Fortunately, this is rare and discourse typically happens without much mud slinging.
Please contact us if you need an onsite Sign Language interpreter for the Queen Mary Tours or a court certified Spanish interpreter for trial, or anything in between. We are a professional interpreting and translation agency, and we’d be glad to help.
